Let Beyoncé Be Human … Damn

Beyoncé leaked some new music Sunday night. The Internet whipped itself into an instant frenzy and has been there ever since. The track is a snippet of two songs, entitled “Bow Down” and “I Been On”; it gives us an even fiercer Sasha Fierce — bold, arrogant, cocky, and gasp — cursing!

It’s a side of Beyoncé that we aren’t used to seeing, and some of us aren’t dealing with it very well. It’s kind of like when we discovered that Judy from “Family Matters” was up in her room making porn this whole time — it’s kind of a shock. “Bow Down” features Bey with the haughty bravado of your favorite rapper, shouting out her native Houston before the lyrics come in. In it, she addresses her haters, growling “Bow down, bitches … this my shit.” The homage, and cursing, continues on “I Been On,” a bass-heavy chopped and screwed cut that is so Houston, you just might get up and get yourself some gold teeth afterward. Some note that she sounds a bit like Kanye, spitting about “gold ass rangs” and “gold ass chains” and poppin’ bottles in the club.

I will admit that it took me some getting used to. While I’m not a rabid fan, I definitely love Beyoncé’s music. It was odd to hear her demand for herself the adoration that is already given so freely — and I didn’t like it. It was too much. It demolished the line between confidence and conceit, and while it didn’t keep me from dancing (those are some cold ass beats, after all), it turned me off.